Arsenal Women have completed the signing of Dutch midfielder Jill Roord from Frauenbundesliga side Bayern Munich. The 22-year old is an international teammate of Vivianne Miedema and Danielle van de Donk and formed part of the Netherlands’ 2017 European Championship winning squad.
Prior to joining Bayern, Jill won 2 Eredivisie titles with FC Twente before moving to Germany in 2017. She was teammates with Viki Schnaderbeck for a season too. Jill joins Viki, Lisa Evans and Vivianne Miedema in leaving Bayern for Arsenal, as the Gunners prepare for their return to the Champions League. She might not be the last Bayern player to make the hop to London this summer….
“I’m really proud that I’m going to be an Arsenal player,” Roord told Arsenal.com. “Arsenal is one of the clubs in England that I really like. In women’s football, they’ve always been one of the top clubs. Of course there are some Dutch friends of mine who play there, so I’ve always followed them. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Roord also admits that Dutch teammates Sari van Veenendaal, Dominique Bloodworth, Danielle van de Donk and Vivianne Miedema had all told her good things about life at Arsenal, “I’ve talked to them and I know they’ve all been really happy over here.
“They also told me that I’m going to like it here and that it’s a good step. It will fit the way I play and the way Arsenal want to play too. I’ve talked to them and it’s my decision because I felt really good about it, but it helps that they’ve said these good words.
“It’s always nice if you go somewhere and there are some familiar faces on and off the pitch. That really helps and I’m really happy that I’m going to play with them over there.”